Italy Puglia and Le Marche
 

Having trouble developing a plan for a driving vacation to these two regions (Le Marche and Puglia) next Aug./Sept. I will be driving south from Selva di Val Gardena and have planned as follows:

Aug 29 - Monterado
Aug. 31 - Ascoli Piceno
Sept. 3 - Puglia (Not sure where)
Sept. 9 - Sorrento


I need assistance for planning the 9/3 - 9/9 portion of this trip. These two regions are the last two to visit in Italy. Sorrento is a revisit.

I have used bvlenci's extensive June 2016 notes (great and thanks for that) regarding Le Marche and have that pretty well in hand. I have reviewed the Puglia comments on the forum and Michelin Green Guide but still am struggling with that.

Thanks for your kind assistance.

H

Puglia, I'd recommend Lecce as one stop though Martina Franca is also lovely. You might also stop at a massaria.

What are your interests, how many people etc etc

Bilbo:

Our interests are wine, food, cultural sights and history. At present, have Alberobello, Bari, Cathedral di Trani, Lecce, Basilica San Nicola, Castello Aragonese, Basillica di Santa Croce, Monte San Angelo and the Basillica di Santa Caterina di Alessandria on my list. So we will use Lecce as one base most likely and one other (?)

Two adults for sure and potential of two other adults.

You might like masseria, these are fotified farms that have been converted into hotels/spa/restuarants etc etc, a lovely experience and they can offer stuff like cooking or yoga depending on how you book.

Food and drink will not be a problem.

An odd historical place you might like is Gravina, it is an old town surrounded by a ravine on 3 sides in which the locals hid from the Saracen invaders. Hence they have cave-churches. The town is a not much on the tourist route but you might like it.

Matera is the big draw to the area, but is in Basilicata.

I haven't seen much of Puglia, but there are a few things that really stood out for me.

The Castel del Monte, near Bari, designed by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. A very beautiful, harmonious, stylistically simple, medieval castle. I've seen it twice and would gladly make a detour to see it again.

The Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Trani, a beautiful Romanesque cathedral, at the edge of the sea.

I was a little underwhelmed by the Gargano peninsula, but maybe I didn't spend enough time there to see the best parts. You also have very little time, though, so I would venture to say that a short visit doesn't repay the time required to travel around on the narrow roads.

I haven't been further down the peninsula than Bari.

You might want to stop in Matera (in Basilicata) on your way to Sorrento.

South of Lecce can be good too.

Thanks to you both. Much help.

We spent five nights in Lecce and the same at the Masseria Cervarolo which is about 7kms from Ostuni in the Valle d'Itria.
We enjoyed both locations very much and did day trips from both.

The Masseria had very good food, we ate dinner there a few times. They also offered free wine tasting with a talk from a local sommelier and also cooking classes. (which we didn't do)

My report from our 2012 trip. We spent 3 days in Polignano a Mare and 3 days in Lecce before heading to Matera then Amalfi.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-to-puglia.cfm

The first part is pretty foodie centric but forge on...

Sounds like you have a good list of your priorities for Puglia! :-)

I only visited a bit of Puglia. I stayed in Lecce and Trani and was very glad with both choices. I visited Alberobello en route between them and Polignano a Mare en route to Bari, which (unfortately) I didn’t see at all – I just stayed a night before a morning flight.

No time in Matera?

kja, raincitygirl and sundriedtopepo:

Thanks for your response. I plan to visit Matera during my drive to Salerno where I will drop the car.

Sun: Nice report. Thank you.

H

You may not be aware of the "pausa" this means that sites/sights often close down from 12 to 4pm and restaurants from 1 (or whenever they can hustle customers out) in the heat of the day. It takes a little getting used to and means that you will benefit from getting up as early as possible and expect to stay up late into the inky darkness.

I also liked Alberobello, although it seems to have become a sort of trulli theme park. I really enjoyed more the trulli I saw out in the countryside, which are mostly being used as agricultural outbuildings now.

There were many trulli dotted around the countryside near Masseria Cervarolo, I too enjoyed them better in that setting.

We toured Puglia for three weeks in September of 2016 and covered the whole province. Plus two nights in Matera, which was the highlight of our trip, together with the Gargano in northern Puglia.

We did a similar trip in 2012 - a week in Le Marche and a week in Puglia - and had a blast.

Our trip report is here

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...t-do-italy.cfm

And our pics are here:

Le Marche https://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gi...57634528008046

Puglia https://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gi...57635047994978

Happy planning!

If you can, you might want to consider spending at least one night in Matera. There's easily more than enough to see and do there to justify it! And if you do, seriously consider staying in one of the sassi. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at the Locanda di San Martino, which still gets great reviews (and now has an indoor pool, which I didn't have when I was there):
http://www.locandadisanmartino.it/?lang=en

And try to make time to see Salerno's glorious waterfront and the extraordinary ambos of its duomo. I think Salerno a very seriously underrated city. JMO.

In Matera we stayed in a cavern house in Sassi Caveoso, Antico Convicino Rooms & Suites which I can heartily recommend.
http://www.anticoconvicino.it/